Hello Everyone!
I thought about what I would write you this week and I figure I will report to you what I sent to President Preston as well as give you a taste of the accents here and in the rest of England. Elder Kearon is a little more dignified sounding than 98% of the people here, but the accent is about right. Elder Webb, my last companion was his home teacher as a Deacon, so he hasn't been far from us here. This is a video depiction for the youth website about his talk about the scorpion. It drives home the point.
We saw a great miracle happen this week. We found a man that had been here for just over 3 weeks from India. He is from one of the higher classes. His name is Amit Singh. We taught him at the chapel after walking with him for 30 mins to show him where it is. His English is "something poor" or at least that is how he describes it. Amit said the he would come to church so we organized him a ride with one of our faithful members, but then Amit said he wanted to walk. I was unsure about it, but said ok. He called us 5 mins before church started and said he was lost but he did get close! Our faithful member and Elder Gordon went out for the search and rescue party. He got there just in time for the sacrament and the rest of testimony meeting. He was the only one with us and our Ward Mission Leader in Gospel Essentials and so we broke down everything about the Gifts of the Spirit. After that class he went outside and made a call. I didn't know what it was about. Then after priesthood we went out and he pulled me aside away from other people and told me in his broken English, "I call my family. To ask if ok to make me a Christian...They say ok. You make me Christian?" We had explained baptism in our first lesson with him by going to the part of John the Baptist baptising Christ. He understood as we read from a Hindi Book of Mormon as well. He has a calendar and is dated for the 8th of October.
That was a long paragraph but it was all the same topic. Elder Gordon however has made amazing strides this week. Something clicked in his prayers and he was able to use that as his motivation in speaking to people. He has been learning a lot about doing and not just about observing. I am grateful for this because I was not sure how else to motivate him. Our numbers have been lower in finding, but luckily we have the Lord on our side and the miracles are still happening as we put our best foot forward.
We have also seen some great successes in our working with the members efforts. Our Ward Mission Leader finally let us help him in his kitchen and I have been asking for 2 months now. We had a tea appointment at our RS President's house and she and her husband are both such a strength to the ward. They have 4 boys and they are all Less Active. The youngest 2 are still at home. Last time we were there 1 ate with us, but then left for the spiritual thought. This time they both ate with us and then both sat and listened and Participated in the spiritual thought which was about the Family Proclamation. Also, a non-member sister of Brother Bullock was there! She has always thought her brother was a religious nut because he went to church every week, but she was finally able to see why it was so important to do those things. After the lesson, Sister Bullock asked us on the drive home if we adapted the lesson we had planned the night before and we told her no and that we had planned to do the Proclamation to the Family no matter what. She was amazed because of how well it fit for the people that were there. Revelation during Nightly Planning.
That was a long paragraph but it was all the same topic. Elder Gordon however has made amazing strides this week. Something clicked in his prayers and he was able to use that as his motivation in speaking to people. He has been learning a lot about doing and not just about observing. I am grateful for this because I was not sure how else to motivate him. Our numbers have been lower in finding, but luckily we have the Lord on our side and the miracles are still happening as we put our best foot forward.
We have also seen some great successes in our working with the members efforts. Our Ward Mission Leader finally let us help him in his kitchen and I have been asking for 2 months now. We had a tea appointment at our RS President's house and she and her husband are both such a strength to the ward. They have 4 boys and they are all Less Active. The youngest 2 are still at home. Last time we were there 1 ate with us, but then left for the spiritual thought. This time they both ate with us and then both sat and listened and Participated in the spiritual thought which was about the Family Proclamation. Also, a non-member sister of Brother Bullock was there! She has always thought her brother was a religious nut because he went to church every week, but she was finally able to see why it was so important to do those things. After the lesson, Sister Bullock asked us on the drive home if we adapted the lesson we had planned the night before and we told her no and that we had planned to do the Proclamation to the Family no matter what. She was amazed because of how well it fit for the people that were there. Revelation during Nightly Planning.
And For myself, I am almost done with my back to front reading of the Book of Mormon. I have learned a lot from it and I am glad I followed the idea!
I love you all and hope to hear from each of you. I cannot wait to be an uncle Logan and Liz! Take pictures for me!
Love,
